The present invention relates to a device which is useful for example, in connection with model railroading and more particularly a horn arrangement which is selectively actuated at locations along a track traversed by the model railroad unit.
In model railroading, where simulation of reality is of the utmost importance, it has been found desirable to provide horn means either for a diesel model railroad or steam model where the horn can be located onboard the train to be actuated at selected locations to give the simulation of reality in that the sound emanates from the moving model train.
Such devices have been provided in prior H.O. gauge model railroads where three rails are provided so that accessory circuit is provided between ground and one rail while the power supply is provided between ground and the second rail.
However, in the more popular "O" gauge and "N" gauge model railroad devices where only two rails are provided to give a semblance of reality to a model layout, provision of an onboard horn is considerably more difficult in as much as there is no alternate circuit for selectively supplying electrical energy to accessory equipment.
Some arrangements are known where a carrier frequency is imposed on the track at a high frequency to initiate operation of onboard device; however, such arrangements are prohibitively expensive in most cases, complicated to fabricate, and maintain and still require the operator to manually actuate the horn. While such arrangements may be satisfactory in some applications where a complex model layout is involved with several model railroad trains running at the same time manual operation becomes cumbersome and in some cases unrealistic.
Specifically, it has been observed in most model railroad layouts the actuation of the horn occurs regularly at specific locations, for example, crossings. In prior art devices realistic operation of the layout would require that the operator manually actuate the horn in a realistic pattern each time the train approaches and passes the crossing. When several trains are in operation, the operator simply does not have the time to monitor the position of each train relative to each crossing so realism suffers.
No prior art device is known to permit the automatic actuation and deactuation of a horn carried onboard a model railroad at specific locations on the track on a model layout.